Book Review - My Sisters Keeper

'My Sister's Keeper' by Jodi Picoult.

I absolutely loved this book! It kept my attention from start to finish, although because us Ty's are so busy, it's taken me a while to get through it!
So the main character's name is Anna, who is the sister of Kate, who has leukaemia. But Anna is no ordinary child, she is special. Created especially to save her sister's life.
Anna is most defiantly the character who stands out to me most, i admire her courage and confidence throughout the whole book.
Anna takes on a challenge that no other thirteen year old would even imagine, she sues her parents, for the rights to her body. Crazy right? No.
She is sick of spending her life in hospitals, undergoing surgeries, transfusions and injections, she wants to be a normal child. But in achieving this, she is putting her sisters life in grave danger, which will undoubtedly result in death. What would you do?
This story poses the question, 'Is it right to use one child, in order to save the others life? Does that make you a bad person, or a really desperate one?'
The style of writing, and use of descriptive yet not complicated language makes this book quite an easy and enjoyable read, but i do warn you, have the Kleenex at the ready! As it is a tear jerker!
Overall i really enjoyed it, and i admit to seeing the movie first, but can confirm that the book is far superior! And i will defiantly be trying more of Jodi Picoult's books over the holidays!

National Athletics Awards

Wednesday the 20th of November, well what can I say..It was AMAZING!
As part of my work experience at AAI, I got to go along to the annual national athletics awards! The day started with arranging the dining hall, before all the guests arrived, and after a few phone calls with people wanting to change who they were sitting with, we were all set!
When all the guests started to arrive, i was set the task of 'meet and greet' and to show them to their seats. It was such a great experience, i got talking to Laura Reynolds, Ronnie Delaney and Rob Heffernan!

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Art, History and all about Yeats

Yes you've guessed it! A TY trip!

So we went to town, on our English trip, to the national library to see the Yeats exhibit. So we say, may as well visit the national history museum and the national art gallery while we're there!

The art gallery was my favourite part of the day, I've such an interest in art and i really enjoyed taking some time out just to browse around the great Irish and European art on display.

In the history museum we got to see the bog bodies that inspired a lot of Yeat's writing, it was interesting to see how well the bodies were preserved, but not a good idea on a full stomach!

But i must say, the best part of the day was our trip to Mc Donald's and Starbucks! Because everybody deserves a treat every once in a while:)

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This was my favourite painting by Jack Butler Yeats, I love how you have to stand back and really look at it to try and get your head around it, I liked how it more focuses on the use of colour and basic shapes instead of loads of small detail.

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This is an example of what we saw in the bog bodies exhibit, I thought it was really cool how they were preserved, but it was also kinda sad, just thinking that the body was once a person..

Working Girl

My first day at work experience was most defiantly one to remember! It was such a good day .... after i got there of course..

We left the house in plenty of time, only to find that the M50 was completely blocked off, at this point i was approaching breaking point with my nerves, but thankfully the people at AAI were very understanding and still greeted me with welcoming smiles when i arrived an hour late!
Athletics Ireland is a busy place, i really didnt expect to be so busy! And by the end of the day i was ready to sleep! I can safely say that i'm happy enough in school, at least for another while. The world of work is so exhausting D:
Although, in saying that i am looking forward to the next couple of wednesdays:)

Carlingford Banter

Laser Combat

On the 16th and 17th of September, we headed out to Carlingford in Co. Louth. While there we played laser combat, went kayaking, ran around like giant lollipops (body zorbing). It was so cold, even the showers were freezing:o,  but such an amazing experience and time to bond as a year group. We had plans to stay up all night, but after our first day of activities, we were lucky to still be functioning after 11! I can safely say that this is going to one of my best memories of TY, hopefully there will be loads more to come!

Kayaking:)

 
Body Zorbing at Carlingford:)

There is life after results .....

On Wednesday, the 11th ...
We got our junior cert results. All the days up to it, most people were fine saying 'be grand' but on Wednesday morning everyone was feeling the nerves...
But yeah, turns out life goes on after results..11 honours whoo:D
After tears of joy, preparations for RESULTS NIGHT started:)
Absolutely brilliant night, well worth feeling exhausted all of Thursday.

So after a night of celebration, our history teachers took us to Castletown house. We took the visitors tour, and came out with more knowledge than before. The rooms were all so beautiful, but the most amazing was the print room. A popular past time of that era was collecting prints and sticking them to the walls. This is the only print room that survived the change in styles and fashions.

Castletown House

print room in Castletown house

Workshops:)

On Wednesday the 4th, we took part in 3 different workshops. In the first one, we talked about how there are no limits in life, and we were encouraged to reach for the stars!
The second, was a little different....we learned massages and transferred our positive energy to our friends.
The third, my favourite by far 'positive parties'.

 We talked about staying positive, and not jumping to conclusions, we danced, laughed and listened to feel good music and ended the day on a high!:

First days at school:)

On our first day, nobody knew what to expect really. Everyone was nervous about classes and new teachers and subjects.
But by the end of the day everyone was settled in, and ready for a great year in T.Y!
Our class name is Tabei, named after the first woman to climb Mount Everest.

Junko Tabei

Now that we're four days in, we are well into the swing of school work again. We've already started a number of projects, including religion, geography, home ec and business and science. Whats's next?